Seren Kiremitcioglu

Seren Kiremitcioglu

As a student who works full time, squeezing in social activities can be somewhat of a struggle. I challenge anyone to go to work for 8.5 hours, return home, write and edit dissertation work, and feel lively enough to hit the town afterwards! However, last week graced us with the Easter Bank holiday, so I wanted to make the most of the 4 day recess.

My boyfriend and I decided to go to Dartmoor Zoo with his parents - I'd never been before, and we both love animals. Not only do you get to meet some weird and wonderful animals, the zoo is really accessible both in the car and by bus, and they also take student discount - it's a big win!

As we walked into the zoological park, we were greeted by some grumpy ostriches. They have the weirdest groan; it's quite deep, and it doesn't look like their bodies have the potential to produce such a strange noise. On the other hand, there were also some ridiculously cute African pygmy goats, which made us all smile.

Funniest of all were the meerkats - never have I seen such a group of showoffs! As soon as they saw us, they scurried out of bed, started jumping and hanging from the heat lamp and scurrying around in their pen. We all stood laughing at them for 10 minutes as they put on a show. It was quite the welcome.

I have to say, I was beyond impressed to see tigers and cheetahs up close. What are they doing in Plymouth!? It felt really surreal, and I'd encourage anyone to grab the opportunity to see them while they can. We got to see the cheetahs at feeding time, which was amazing! They're exactly like the cats we have at home, just a bit bigger and slightly more bite-y. Either way, the way they played with the bags of raw meat and ripped them apart resembled a kitten clawing at a human hand. Very cute and very silly.

My favourite part of the trip was most definitely seeing the wolves for the first time. They were so serene, it was very calming to see. I'd wanted to see them for a long time, so I'm happy I finally got the chance! If you want to go and see them too, student prices start at £10.85 (without donation) or £11.95 (with donation). It's 100% worth it!